Readers’ Letters

The Oldie, 23–31 Great Titchfield Street, London, W1W 7PA letters@theoldie.co.uk To sign up for our e-newsletter, go to www.theoldie.co.uk

Lagerfeld stands out

SIR: I enjoyed Natasha Fraser on ‘Karl Lagerfeld, my heavenly boss’. This French poster showed his impressive blend of humour and serious intent. Yours, Peter Kendall, Balaruc les Bains, France

‘It’s yellow, it’s ugly and it doesn’t go with anything but it could save your life.’

My cheap funeral

SIR: Town Mouse need not worry (‘l want a cheapskate send-off’, December issue). My family were discussing the cost of funerals some years ago when my daughter, a nurse, and ever mindful of my welfare, cried, ‘Dad, if you leave your body to the medical school we won’t have to pay for a funeral.’

I made enquiries and learned that when my body has been used to teach anatomy to future doctors, the bones will be cremated and the ashes handed to my no-doubt-grieving family, at a service of thanksgiving shared with other families, at the university church of Great St Mary’s. I signed up and informed my GP. Stephen Halliday, Cambridge

Sir Les cures all …

I would like to know whether the rumour currently circulating in literary circles is true: he is working on an autobiography which will be entitled Sir Les – Warts and All.

We know the great man is not perfect and so it will be a pleasure worth waiting for. Henry Wizgier, Amersham, Buckinghamsire

Mary Killen, queen of clean

SIR: I write in strong support of Mary Killen’s plea (December issue) for your readers to see a dental hygienist. I see my hygienist twice a year. Money well spent.

With regard to the association between certain diseases and inflamed gums, Dr Theodore Dalrymple reminds us regularly that association is not the same as causation. Diabetics are more prone to infection and inflammation, especially if their diabetes is not well controlled.

Several years ago, I told my hygienist that I could not get the hang of flossing.

She said that flossing, if not done properly, can damage the base of the tooth. She advised me to use interdental brushes. These come in different sizes, according to the size of the gaps between one’s teeth. I have used them successfully ever since. Dr John Noone, Worsley, Manchester

Top idea about bottoms

SIR: Last month’s Rant by Carolyn Whitehead (‘Loo-paper dispensers’, December issue) would have struck a chord with many. The answer is always to carry a packet of tissues.

SIR: Sir Les Patterson should be available on prescription – he’d save the NHS thousands on antidepressants! December’s article was worth every penny of my subscription. Long may he continue. Jane Jones, Hoole, Chester

… and reveals all

SIR: As a great admirer of Sir Les Patterson, who is of course a regular contributor to your excellent magazine,

However, on a recent trip to Italy, a fellow traveller made everyone smile when she emerged from a cubicle at a ‘pit stop’ and cheerfully announced, ‘No loo paper. Drip-dry only!’ Helen Jones, Ludlow, Shropshire

Enjoy your retirement

SIR: Andrew Cunningham (‘Not the retiring type’, December issue) seems to me to be struggling with retirement simply because he cannot let go of his past working life. He also appears to have had only a working life, with a lack of socialising away from work.

Retirement is a glorious reward for a lifetime at work. It is a gift with hidden gems, which you have to search for or prepare for. Wasting any retirement day is criminal, once you realise that each retirement day draws you ever nearer to that final day.

When you accept this, you strive to fill your days with memories. John Goldstraw, Bottom House, Staffordshire

‘Before you go, dear, how do I delete the sports channel?’

SIR: Stephen Glover’s article (Media Matters, December issue) about a hack’s best training reminded me of Edward Crankshaw. He was a friend of my parents when I was at school. I think he was then editing the back page of the Observer. His youthful, exuberant book on Vienna encouraged me to explore that city for myself in the sixth form. When I told him I had gained a university place, he said his university had been the war. He was glad I had been spared that.

For many years he was my mentor and made even the harshest criticism feel like praise. He was the kindest and most self-effacing man I have ever met. William Wood, Maulds Meaburn, Cumbria

Grace note

SIR: I noted with interest Sister Teresa’s definitions of ‘grace’ (God, December issue). I have always been taught, quite simply, that it is ‘God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense’. Elizabeth Sadler, Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex

in Herts ...

SIR: I enjoyed Andrew Roberts’s article in your December issue.

While I was too young to see Genevieve at the cinema, I later came across it on television. Imagine my surprise that one scene, supposedly on the road to Brighton, was actually shot on Batchworth Heath near Rickmansworth. This was just round the corner from where I lived.

I also had the pleasure of meeting many of the stars of that era, such as Derek Farr and Muriel Pavlow, at an annual cocktail party held by a neighbour who was an insurance agent to many actors of this period.

How wonderful this period seems in retrospect. Yours faithfully, Kevin J Last, Hinton St George, Somerset

... and Africa

SIR: Andrew Roberts’s article about the film Genevieve (December issue) awakened memories of my year in Ghana, West Africa, where I worked as a VSO volunteer in 1965.

One evening the British Council (the United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations

‘It’s alternative fuel. It runs on money’

and educational opportunities, which had an office 60 miles away in Ghana’s capital, Accra) brought the film to St Paul Technical School where I worked in the village of Kukurantumi. When darkness fell, they screened Genevieve on the white exterior wall of the dormitory block.

The event was regarded as so prestigious that I was instructed to drive to the home of the village’s Chief to convey him and his numerous children to join the school pupils watching the film.

They loved it – but I don’t know what they made of the historic Darracq and Spyker cars which were the stars of the film. Tim Stanley, Bristol, Avon

Elisabeth Luard’s cheek

SIR: In her review of A Brief History of Pasta (December issue), I’m afraid Elisabeth Luard adds to the confusion about ingredients for spaghetti all’amatriciana. Guanciale is cured pork cheek (as its name in Italian suggests), not collar. Even so, I thank her for bringing the book to my attention as it seems like a must for any Italophile. Philip Cooper, Liverpool